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Friday, September 12, 2008

Friday, September 12, 2008

Nothing helps smooth over those awkward early teen years quite like getting a cake with a half-naked stud-muffin on it from your parents, eh, Tracy? Just wait 'til your mom asks to go "halfsies" with you on a lap dance.

I am told that these "Love is" characters were really popular back in the day, so I'm going to assume it wasn't the decorator's idea to draw two nekkid kids of indeterminable gender hugging. However, what the heck is going on behind kid #1? Either that's a tail, and it's wagging, or kid #2 is patting kid #1's butt. Considering the "warm embrace" sentiment, I honestly couldn't say which of those options would creep me out less.

UPDATE: That's hair? Really? I mean, I guess I'll have to take the word of my [cough cough] older and wiser readers, but I still don't see it. Maybe if it wasn't flesh-colored...

Love is... is a single panel comic strip that still runs in some newspapers. Yes, the figures are a naked boy and girl. The thing behind her butt is probably the extension of her hair, poorly executed. But I like the idea that he's patting her butt better. ;)

But the "Love is..." cake is actually not what you make it out to be. "Love is..." characters are not children. They are adults. Nude, yes. But that is how they were usually drawn. And that is her hair, I think behind "Kid #1's butt". You can read more about "Love is..." here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is...

Okay...worse still was how I first read the writing. I saw it as "your warm entrance" at first...which is hilarious and disgusting all in onme. SO, if you thought it couldn't get any worse....trust me, it did in my mind.

Oh my. That first one looked disturbing enough, and then I read the "Happy 14th" on it. What a cake for a 14-year-old! I'm completely creeped out. I'd hate to see what the 14-year-old son's cake will be like...

Although the "Love is" characters are not exactly as they were "in the day" they are instantly recognizable.

The left character is the female ande the right character the male. For extra feminity the female character had long blond hair. The "tail" you are seeing is the bottom part of her long hair.

So both your options are, fortunately, wrong and nothing suspicious is happening.

By the way the "Love is" characters were much much sweeter and mushy than icing on a cake and I don't mean that in a positive way. Therefore they left an aftertaste that wasn't to my liking. But the sweetness and mushiness might just make it on a cake, especiallye if it was for someone familiar with the characters.

the "love is..." characters' genders are distinguishable by their hairstyles. the smaller one on the left has long hair, presumably that's the end of her long ponytail - at a strange angle, i must admit. it's not my taste but it's not a wreck, in my opinion, if you look at the 'original' characters. these seem to be way more popular in germany (not with me, I hasten to add). http://liebe-ist.moonweb.de/ has a collection of the pictures.

The second one is a very popular image, I grew up with the Love Is cartoons and I knew straight away that was part of the girl's hair. There's a little bit about the history of the Love Is characters here: http://www.toonopedia.com/loveis.htm where you can see what it's supposed to look like.

While the cake #2 is ugly and creepy and I agree with those points--I'm a little worried about the implied homophobia in your post and in the comments here. I mean they are two kids or cupids and it's a cake so whatever. But please tell me I'm misreading your "omg I hope it's not too naked boys hugging." But I don't know how else to read I hope that is a boy and a girl.

HOmer simpson had this to say about Love is during an episode of the simpsons..".Love is...its a comic about 2 naked children who are in love."

eek.

With that first cake...I have to say...I had some pretty outrageous friends wen I was 14 and 15 who would have thought it was hilarious to get a cake like this...so i could be guessing that the cake is from some older friends...

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW on that first cake! I mean...First of all - what is Tracy into that her parents thought that would be the "perfect" cake for her? Does she just really dig cheesey romance novels? Ok, I get the long haired shirtless guy...but the suggested upcoming removal of his pants is just WRONG!!!! On a 21st birthday cake = hilarity. But FOURTEEN? People need to learn what is age appropriate.

For the "Love is" cake, Um, 1979 called and they want their cake back. :-/ It's definitely her ponytail/braid end whatever. That naked baby girl always had some nice, long, hippie hair.

My god, when I was fourteen my parents were still trying to leave me flowers and smileys - MAYBE for a bachelorette party or something, when did we get sexualized so young? Plus he is a little creepy...

I would have guessed angel wing behind that kid until I read the comments. And, wow on the first cake. Some 14 year old kid is reading romance novels and that scares the crap out of me. Of course, I did that, but I hid them under my bed like any normal teenager, not shared my favorite characters w/ my mother!

oh my, now I feel ancient, looking at all you bright young things discussing the Love Is characters. I recognized them instantly and thought "Haven't seen them in a long while..." Yes, utter schmaltz, blecch! And I knew it was the female's hair but the idea of it being a fart is far more entertaining.

As for the beefcake cake, YUCK. I *don't want to know* what is going on at 6 o'clock with that one!

Incidentally, I'll point out that when I commented, there were 0 comments - comments get moderated and posted in chunks, which is why sometimes it seems that everyone is posting exactly the same thing without reading comments first (not to say that some people don't do just that). I'm not sure how to get around it, as I'm sure Jen has things to do besides moderate the blog, during daylight hours ^^

*snickers then points and laughs* I just love where "Tracy" is written and the fact that it's sagging....somehow the combined imagery is just. *cough*Well then. I'm so tempted to show this to my 14 year old to show her that there ARE ways I could be a more embarrassing parent. She probably would have gone in her room and refused to come out if I got her that cake (not that I would have!)

Man, you can tell age of the readers of this particular post! Yes, I too remember the "love is..." comic. As a matter of fact I have several of the cartoons in my wedding scrapbook! sigh... Maybe I should drown myself in that cake! lol

As for the other cake? Wow, that mom needs to get a clue! Not just tacky, inappropriate & embarrassing for the teen but Wow!!! Wonder how the guests reacted & especially the guest of honor.

The little red decorations (the linear ones, not the heart shapes) on the second cake... somehow they seem just not quite right. Not wreckitude on their own, really, and it took three viewings before I even noticed them next to the cheezariffic "love is" characters, but they do add a certain... what are those things? Some of them look like they should be seeking her "warm embrace," if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

And where are Tracy's parents!? Why would they be okay w/a cake like that for their minor daughter? Idiots. Idiots..they're everywhere.

Love is..a walk down memory lane! I remember those comics, as my sister used to collect them.I don't think the original comics meant to imply underage, minor kids in a weird relationship. Sadly, this comic strip has gone out with bell-bottom jeans and hot pants. :o)

OMG. I HATED those "Love is..." characters when I was growing up. I would vomit if I had to eat a cake decorated with them. For a split-second, I thought the boy was giving a "thumbs up" behind her back! How inappropriate would that be for the "innocence" these two always represented?!

That first cake is such a jolt to the senses. The cake itself is pristine and beautifully executed. It looks like it belongs on a Victorian Valentine's Day card. Then - wham! - there's Mr. Hunk in the middle, all oiled and ready for action. Ew! Double-ew when you read that it's for a 14-year-old girl. Her name is across his nether regions!! I dread to wonder where the candles were placed...

If I'd been given that birthday cake at fourteen, I might still be hiding in my room...and I'll be 46 tomorrow.

The Love Is... cake isn't all that wrecktastic, per se, given that it's a pretty close representation of the actual comic. All the same, when I see it I no longer want cake because the decoration is so cloying I've developed diabetes and gone into a coma.

Maybe, just maybe, that first cake is for someone born on Feb. 29. So while it would technically only be her "14th" birthday, really she's 56 years old. It could be, right? Please let that be it, because otherwise it's just too scary, and someone should be calling child protective services.

You must be quite young, my dear, not to remember the "Love Is" characters. One of their famous quotes was, "Love Is . . . .Never having to say you're sorry." Even as a youngin' I knew that was a load of crap. They're the poster children for modern day co-dependency. And to see them on a cake - yuk? But I guess some people may have liked them - lol. Just not me :-) I've always been a tad opinionated . . . . if you couldn't tell.

Oh wow, I remember the "Love is..." thing. I think they're supposed to send a "sweet back to nature all you need is love" vibe. What a flashback! I thought it was sappy and weird back in "the day". Never thought I'd see them on a cake. Ew.

When I first saw second one, I thought the little boy was hugging the little girl so hard she made a little fart. But, going by the body porportions of that area to her feet.. I guess it couldn't be a fart unless it was coming out of her shoulder blade.

It looks as if the girls hair does end just about where the boy's hand is on her shoulder. But after reading the comments I guess, yeah, I do see the ponytail now. :)

Heh-heh. I remember the "Love Is..." cartoons from when I was growing up in the 1970s. That is her hair; it's usually a darker brown, though. Here's a link with more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is...

The saddest part about that hunk cake is that I would not have put it past my mother to give me one for my 14th birthday. This ignited a few uncomfortable flashbacks...oh well, such are the perils of cakes!

my first thought was that it was hair... but then I saw how (her?) haircut was cropped just above her right shoulder. I mean, technically it could be like a radically different length in the back center, like a big rat-tail or something?

AAAHHHHH.. the hair... yeah, I remember that hair. all short at the front, 'business' in the back. Don't you remember that??? (sadly, I saw this in real life recently!!)As far as hunky goes, I now feel like the most over-protective parent in the world (ok, the world of that kid's parents, anyway...) I won't even let my 11 year old see Mama Mia!!

Back in the 70s, the "Love Is" comic strip was printed in my local newspaper right next to "The Family Circus", another one-panel strip. Cheesy and 70s-era it is, but there is nothing creepy about it. The drawn figures were as ubiquetous on "cutesy-themed" love items as the Precious Moments figures are today; and "Love Is" bothers me considerably less than those ugly Precious Moments mutants.

If a stylized naked figure bothers someone so much as to call it "creepy", we've really taken a backward slide into the Dark Ages as a society.

When I was younger, I was always creeped out by the "Love is..." cartoons. The fact that they are indiscriminate genders does creep me out. Because it always sort of bothered me to see naked images without actual - you know - parts.

But then, considering the first cake, maybe I should be thankful for those creepy blank spots!

@MetalNoir:It's not that they're naked, and it's not even that they're stylized... it's just the WAY they're stylized that makes them a bit creepy.

I was going to say I agreed with you that Precious Moments are worse, but actually I'm not sure I do. Not that I don't hate PM, I do, just that these little weirdos are legitimate competitors to PM in ickiness. I can't decide!

At least in the 70s I only had to put up with Holly Hobbie, which was kind of cheesy too but never achieved the same creepy factor.

(One of my relatives was forced to go to the Precious Moments museum with someone. Yikes. Just the fact that there is a Precious Moments museum: yikes.)

I love your blog! I am a cake decorator in a grocery store bakery, and I have to say all of your cake pictures and the commentary on them are hilariously entertaining. The 14 yr old's cake is decorated nicely, only.... what kind of parent orders their kid a cake like that?? and those two cartoon kids...the picture the baker used is so out of date!!

Yep, it's her hair. I was a teenager back when the "Love Is" kids were popular and got to see them in a variety of tableaus, and she has long hair. This is the first time I've ever been glad I was familiar with the "Love Is" couple, because otherwise, I'd now be screaming "OHMYGOD IT'S A FURRY!"

My gods, my mother would slap the heck out of anyone who would suggest giving cake #1 to me at that age! When I was 14 I would have wanted a a cake shaped like a horse, or maybe one with an image of of the Relic Hunter. But knowing your mother got you a cake with a beefcake shot on it, plus where the girl's name is written....no. There are some things that just are more appropriate for later in life.

Cake #2: I remember seeing those insipid "Love Is..." comics. That the characters' genders couldn't be discerned except for the long, feminine hair was never a problem with me. I hated the sappiness they seemed to just ooze. I'd rather eat one of the cupcakes from that Hot Wheels cake mentioned earlier in the blog.

I just thought of something, what if cake #1 is a wreck in another way. Maybe Tracy is 41, but "they" put the 1 on first by mistake. "Crap! I don't want to mess up the icing... I know I'll just put the four on anyway. Nobody'll notice right?"

That late 60's line: "Make love not war." So someone came up with those cartoon characters, and I'm right there with Cheri-Beri-- "Love means never having to say you're sorry" was the one punchline I remember from my youth. It stuck with me--it was so wrong-headed, and I always wanted to go argue with the cartoonist about that one. Good to know I'm not the only one.

The baker here needs to add more long hair at the back to get it right, but on the whole, he/she nailed those cartoon images pretty well.

@ chrissy:It's the end of her ponytail. It's hair, poorly rendered though it is. Deal with it. Nothing kinky is implied. I'm sure you'll find a vast number of "Love Is" images on an image search. See for yourself.

@ kansas girl:Yes the idea of the existence of a Precious Moments Museum causes the mind to reel. That does not diminish the fact that the US has an issue with nakedness, no matter how simply or innocuously depicted. My good friend who is an elementary art teacher is not permitted to show works of art to her students which depict figures which might be naked. One such image is Henri Matisse's painting Icarus. That's a little ridiculous. For some reason, we in the US over the course of the past 30-odd years since the seventies, have come to view our naked bodies as dirty. In 2002, curtains were draped over nude and partially-nude sculptures at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building because the people speaking there (John Ashcroft, specifically) felt the works of art were innappropriate. The drapes were, at first, rented at a cost of $2,000 per use; then the government purchased a set for $8,000. Wow, we Americans are really ashamed of our bodies, aren't we?

I remember the Love Is...characters :) My grandparents had a book on them when I was a kid...it was a little comic book type thing. It isn't meant to be perverted. The hair I agree is poorly done, but I remember the girl had a 70's haircut that made me cringe...business in the front and party in the back.

Aww, the "Fabio-wanna-be" cake reminds me of my 5th birthday. Sweet memories, followed by years of therapy. I'm just hoping the cake was really for someone's FORTIETH b-day, and it got morphed in FOURTEENTH! Otherwise, those are some messed up parents (cuz I doubt her 14 year old friends could afford a cake like that). OH NO!!! Tracy is a girl, right? This cake is getting worse and worse by the minute.

These characters were very popular when I was a kid. How funny that you think her hair looks odd, and that people think it's "poorly executed." All I see is hair.

Also very popular during that time were "pony tails." A girl with long hair wore it in a single braid, hanging in the middle of her back. An elastic band was cinched a couple of inches from the end of her hair, so it could hang and swing loose, like a horse's tail.

Awww, the Love Is characters were always very sweet and innocent. I always liked them, and even though these are not executed terribly well, they are immediately recognisable. Some of these are still cut out and on my refrigerator with magnets.

The first cake is hideous. Well, I mean, the cake itself looks nice, it's just that design in the middle. I don't care how old I would be, I would not want such a man on my birthday cake. x_x (Even if I did, it would be just weird to carve "him" up and eat pieces! >_<)

I thought of another possibility for the wagging thing...but I'd rather not get into it. I prefer not to think about the reality of these things (which I do remember from my childhood), as the creative explanations are much funnier than the fact that some adult thought these would be adorable. On cake.

Jen, Jen,You are showing your un-dyed roots! I clearly remember buying a "Love Is..." book at our elementary book fair when I was in 2nd grade, and, unfortunately, loving it. Where were my parents in my hour of need?Laura

Yep, just also wanted to add that the love is... characters are still very popular, at least in Germany and Switzerland where I am from. I never really liked them, but they are adults and appear on many little cakes and cards to be given to your loved ones - a real staple in candy shops.

It looks like its meant to be wings. and since the cake is white they couldnt make the wings white. and since it speaks of love and has all the hearts surrounding, im presuming it is a valentines cake which would make what looks to be makshift "charubs."

Lifted straight from Wiki: "Love Is... began as a series of little love notes that Kim Grove drew for her future husband, Roberto Casali. The strip was first syndicated in 1970 and one of her most famous drawings, "Love Is...being able to say you are sorry" was marketed internationally for many years in print, on cards and on souvenirs."

I immediately recognised it as hair and I'm 23.. Then again I always thought the Love Is... characters were sweet, just because of their origins.

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